Inside Asylum Appeals

This book shines a light on what takes place during asylum appeals and puts forward suggestions for improving their fairness and accessibility. Drawing on evidence from Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Italy and the United Kingdom, the book evidences the fragility of legal protection for people forced to migrate to Europe.

Appeals are a crucial part of Europe's asylum system but they remain poorly understood. Building on insights and perspectives from legal geography and socio-legal studies, this book shines a light on what takes place during asylum appeals and puts forward suggestions for improving their fairness and accessibility. Drawing on hundreds of ethnographic observations of appeal hearings, as well as research interviews, the authors paint a detailed picture of the limitations of refugee protection available through asylum appeals. Refugee law can appear dependable and reliable in policy documents and legal texts. However, this work reveals that, in reality, myriad social, political, psychological, linguistic, contextual and economic factors interfere with and frequently confound the protection that refugee law promises during its concrete enactment. Drawing on evidence from Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Italy and the United Kingdom, the book equips readers with a clear sense of the fragility of legal protection for people forced to migrate to Europe. The book will appeal to scholars of migration studies, legal studies, legal geography and the social sciences generally, as well as practitioners in asylum law throughout Europe and beyond.

This book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

Autorentext

Nick Gill is a Professor of Human Geography at the University of Exeter, UK, and the Principle Investigator of the ASYFAIR project.

Nicole Hoellerer is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Bristol.

Jessica Hambly is a Senior Lecturer at the Australian National University College of Law.

Daniel Fisher is a Research Associate at the University of Glasgow's Centre for Public Policy.

Inhalt

List of Figures

Acknowledgements

List of Acronyms

PART I Setting the Scene

1 Introduction

2 What Are Asylum Appeals?

3 Approaching Asylum Appeals

PART II Accessing Protection in Asylum Appeals

4 Before the Hearing: Waiting, Preparation and Anticipation

5 Arriving at Court: First Impressions, Orientation and the Fragility of Trust

6 Assembling Appeals: Material Perspectives on Gathering Evidence and People

Part II Policy and Practice Compendium

PART III Participating in Asylum Appeals

7 The Politics of Speed: Adjudication and Participation Under Time Pressure

8 Barriers to Communication in Asylum Appeals: Interpretation, Disclosure and Distractions

Part III Policy and Practice Compendium

PART IV Procedure

9 Mistakes and Incompetence

10 Judicial Questioning during Hearings

11 Judicial Styles

Part IV Policy and Practice Compendium

12 Conclusion